Salted caramel is middle class crack. I don’t care – it’s bloody delicious. What is not to like about the tooth-buzzing sweetness of caramel tempered by blood pressure-raising, yummy salt? Absolutely nothing, that’s what. Here, I give you the basic salted caramel sauce and a gingery variation for livening up a boring bowl of ice cream. It’s ridiculously easy. If you can focus on a hot saucepan for about five minutes without getting distracted, you can do this.
Salted caramel ice cream sauce
Ingredients
- 30g butter
- 50g brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or essence
- 1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
- A dessert spoon of double cream, cream or creme fraiche, if you’re feeling indulgent
- Flaked almonds to serve
- For the ginger variation: All of the above plus 1 teaspoon of ginger, ½ teaspoon of mixed spice and a couple of ginger nut biscuits
Instructions
- You need to work quickly over a medium heat – melt the butter with the brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt while stirring quickly, ideally with a little sauce whisk. (For the ginger variation, add the ginger and mixed spice at this point)
- As spoon as the sugar has dissolved and is a little darker, stir the cream through if you’re adding a few more calories, then remove from the heat and stir some more.
- Pour over the ice cream immediately. Scatter flaked almonds on top to garnish. (For the ginger variation, put the ginger nut biscuits in a ziplock bag and smash with a meat tenderising hammer or a rolling pin and sprinkle on top)